Photosynthesis Virtual Lab

Photosynthesis Virtual Labs.

Lab 1: Glencoe Photosynthesis Lab

http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/science/virtual_labs/LS12/LS12.html

Analysis Questions

1. Make a hypothesis about which color in the visible spectrum causes the most plant growth and which color in the visible spectrum causes the least plant growth?

If plants absorb light through chlorophyll and chlorophyll absorbs the most violet light and the least green light, then the plants with green light will grow the least and the plants with violet light will increase the most.

2. How did you test your hypothesis? Which variables did you control in your experiment and which variable did you change in order to compare your growth results?

We tested our hypothesis by changing the color of the light and measuring how much the plant grew. We repeated it three times with different plants.

Results:

Filter Color	Spinach Avg. Height (cm)	Radish Avg. Height (cm)	Lettuce Avg. Height (cm)
Red	18	13	11
Orange	15	8	7
Green	2	1	3
Blue	19	14	13
Violet	17	11	9

3. Analyze the results of your experiment. Did your data support your hypothesis? Explain. If you conducted tests with more than one type of seed, explain any differences or similarities you found among types of seeds.

Our data both supported and refuted our hypothesis. It supported our claim the green would grow the least. We found however that instead of violet light causing the most growth, it was blue light that caused the most growth. We also found that spinach grew most and lettuce and radish grew about equally less than spinach.

4. What conclusions can you draw about which color in the visible spectrum causes the most plant growth?

We concluded that blue light causes the most growth in plants. The blue light had the highest plant height in the end of the 30 days. We also found green light caused the least amount growth because all the plants with green light were very short in the end of the 30 days.

5. Given that white light contains all colors of the spectrum, what growth results would you expect under white light?

We would expect that it would grow more than anything else because all colors of the light spectrum are being added up. It would have the effects of all the best lights combined.  

Site 2: Photolab

http://www.kscience.co.uk/animations/photolab.swf

This simulation allows you to manipulate many variables. You already observed how light colors will affect the growth of a plant, in this simulation you can directly measure the rate of photosynthesis by counting the number of bubbles of oxygen that are released.

There are 3 other potential variables you could test with this simulation: amount of carbon dioxide, light intensity, and temperature.

Choose one variable and design and experiment that would test how this factor affects the rate of photosynthesis. Remember, that when designing an experiment, you need to keep all variables constant except the one you are testing. Collect data and write a lab report of your findings that includes:

• Question
• Hypothesis
• Experimental parameters (in other words, what is the dependent variable, independent variable, constants, and control?)
• Data table
• Conclusion (Just 1st and 3rd paragraphs since there's no way to make errors in a virtual lab)

*Type your question, hypothesis, etc. below.  When done, submit this document via Canvas.  You may also copy and paste it into your blog.

Question: How does carbon dioxide affect the rate of oxygen produced by the plant?

Hypothesis: If carbon dioxide is essential to photosynthesis and oxygen is a byproduct of photosynthesis, then the more carbon dioxide added to the water, the more oxygen is produced.

Experiment: The variables that remained constant in the experiment were the temperature of the water at 25 degrees, light intensity at power 50, and light color as white. The independent variable in this experiment was the amount of carbon dioxide in the water. The dependent variable was the amount of bubbles produced in 30 seconds. The control is when no carbon dioxide is added. The two levels are no carbon dioxide and half a bottle of carbon dioxide.

	No Carbon Dioxide	Half Bottle of Carbon Dioxide
Trial 1	19	33
Trial 2	19	33
Trial 3	19	33
Average	19	33

Conclusion:

In this lab, we asked the question of how carbon dioxide affects the amount of oxygen produced by the plant. I found that the more carbon dioxide added to the water, the more oxygen produced by the plant. We measured this in how many bubbles were produced in 30 seconds. We found that on average, the water without carbon dioxide added produced 19 oxygen bubbles in 30 seconds while the water with carbon dioxide produced 33 oxygen bubbles in 30 seconds. This makes sense because photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide and oxygen is a byproduct of photosynthesis. This data supports our claim that the more carbon dioxide added to the water, the more oxygen is produced by the plant.

We did this lab to demonstrate how carbon dioxide affects the production of oxygen in plants. This helped me better understand the process of photosynthesis and what are the products and reactants of photosynthesis. This could be applied to other real world situations such as having an ideal amount of carbon dioxide in a greenhouse.

Microscope Lab

We used 400 power to take a picture of this spiryoga. It is unique because it is unique because it is all in a very straight column. We observed that the cell looked very rigid and straight. This is a autotrophic eukaryote. 

We used 400 power to take a picture of this cyanobacteria. It is unique because it was one of the first bacteria and it changed the Earth by making oxygen. We observed they were like beads that were connected. It is a prokaryotic eukaryote.

We used 100 power to view this amoeba. It is unique because of its pseudopods which make it look like a ¨blob.¨ We noticed that it was very big because this picture only used 100 magnification when most of the others required 400. It is a eukartyotic heterotroph.

We used 400 power to observe this Euglena cell. We noticed it is very tiny. We could not see the chloroplast and we could barely see the flagellum. It is both autotrophic and heterotrophic and it is eukaryotic. 

We used 400 power to see this ligustrum. It is unique because there are a lot of cells clumped up. We noticed there was a red center which was a vein. It is a eukaryotic autotrophic cell.

This picture of bacteria was taken with 400 power. It is unique because it is very abundant and there are countless bacteria everywhere. We observed that the bacteria looked like small squiggles. It is a prokaryotic heterotroph.

We used 400 power microscope to capture this picture of the animal tissue. It is unique in that it is made in bands of fibers known as striations. We observed that the cells were long and thin. We determined that this was a heterotrophic eukaryotic cell.

In this lab, we observed microscopic organisms under a microscope and labelled their parts. We were able to see most things except for the flagellum of protists. The autotrophs had chloroplasts and were usually smaller than their heterotroph counterparts. The heterotroph were usually eukaryotic. The eukaryotes were much bigger than prokaryotes.

Diffusion Lab

The purpose of the Diffusion Lab was to see what happens to eggs through the process of diffusion. We did this by putting 2 eggs in different cups, one containing corn syrup and one containing deionized water. We first measured both eggs in their circumference (the short way) and their weight. We then put the eggs in their cups and left them their over the long weekend. We then carefully took out the eggs from their containers and measured their sizes to see whether the circumference and weight had changed. We found that the eggs placed in the corn syrup had deflated and lost weight. On average, they lost about 42.17% of their mass and had a 19.68% decrease in circumference. This happened through the process of diffusion. The sugar in this case was the solute and the water was the solvent. There was more solute (sugar) on the outside of the cell so it tried to get in but it can because its to big so instead the water from inside the egg comes out where there is less water. Cells change in response to their environment because of diffusion. Putting them in the water would cause the egg to inflate because their is more solvent (water) outside the egg and more solute inside the egg. When you put it in the sugar water, it will deflate and water will be taken out of it.
This lab helped demonstrate the process of diffusion. It showed the effects of diffusion on eggs and these can be applied to actual cells. It shows what happens when you put a cell in certain conditions such as having too much or too little solute. Fresh vegetables are sprayed with water so that they don inflate and remain rigid. Salting effects the plants by causing them to wilt.  This is because there will be water coming out of the plant cells because of so much solute outside. This will stop the turgor pressure and wilt the plant. We can make a new experiment seeing the same thing except having salt and not sugar. We can see the different effects of this.

Egg Macromolecules Lab Conclusion

The purpose of the Egg macromolecules lab was to identify specific macromolecules in an egg. We did this by adding a solution to specific parts of the egg and depending on whether on not they changed color, we could determine whether the macromolecules was present. We rated the amount of the macromolecules present from a scale from 0 to 10, 0 meaning we did not find any of the macromolecules and 10 meaning we found a lot of macromolecules present. If lipids are known to make the cell membrane, then we should expect to find lipids in the cell membrane. If yolk is where the chick if formed and it needs structural proteins to grow, then we cane expect to see proteins in the yolk. If proteins are found in the cytoplasm of the cell, then we can expect that we will find proteins in the egg white. We found that there are a lot of lipids present in the cell membrane. When adding a chemical known as Sudan III to the parts of the egg, it is supposed to be red if lipids are not present, and red to orange if lipids are present. When we added Sudan III to the egg membrane, it became very orange. We rated this a 7 on the macromolecules scale. This makes sense because the cell membrane is mostly made of lipids. When adding copper sulfate and sodium hydroxide to the parts of the egg, it should turn from blue to purple if proteins are present, and stay blue if proteins are not present. When we added copper sulfate and sodium hydroxide to the yolk, it became purple. We rated it a 5 on the macromolecules scale. This makes sense because proteins would be needed in the yolk of the cell where the chick is developing. We also found that doing the same test to the egg white would bring similar results. We also rated it a 5 on the scale. This makes sense because the cytoplasm is where a lot of protein is found. Also, eggs usually have their proteins in the egg white so that the chick will develop.
While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to many reasons. On contradiction was that some of the lab partners reported seeing colors from the test that should not have been seen. One example is in the monosaccharides test where we found the color purple in the membrane even though it is only supposed to turn blue green and orange. Another problem we found was that many of the numbers seemed off compared to the color observed. The color it was supposed to turn might not be found but it was still given a high rating on the scale. One example was the protein lab where egg white got the color murky white but it was given a 5 on the scale. It should have turned either blue if it was not present or purple if it was. Another problem was that the rating from 1 to 10 is subjective because the numbers are not relative to anything. One recommendation I have is to have multiple people work together to eliminate errors like the ones mentioned above. Another recommendation I have is to have the scale relative to something like showing a picture example of what would be a 0 and what would be a 10.
We did this lab to see what macromolecules we would identify in the egg. We learned from this lab what macromolecules are found in certain parts of the cell. It helps reinforce your understanding of macromolecules and their use in the cell. You can make assumptions for why you found certain macromolecules in certain parts of the cells. This could be applied to other situations. You could use this to find the most nutritional parts of the cell such as the yolk and egg white because they have the most protein. It could also be used for real cells found in plants and animals to better understand how their cells work.